Hi, my name is Miss Eccles, and I am the Year 1 Teacher for Hummingbirds.  I am thrilled to be joining St John's Primary School and to be part of the Year 1s journey of learning. I have a passion for fostering a love of learning in young minds, with a background in Early Childhood Education and a dedication to helping children reach their full potential. In Hummingbirds, I look forward to a year full of growth, fun and memorable learning experiences. I love teaching maths in year 1, and I have a huge passion for story telling. I enjoy nothing more than ending the day with a story and becoming lost in the world of books. Outside of teaching, I enjoy reading, cooking, hiking, spending time with family and friends. 

 

Other staff supporting Hummingbirds:

Miss Reilly is our teaching assistant. Mrs Archer is our learning support assistant. Mrs Nottage teaches all day on a Tuesday.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Last term we saw some incredible learning taking place! Term 2 emphasised a balance of academic growth, creativity, and social development, laying a strong foundation for further learning in Year 1. We explored shops past and present, designed our own shopping baskets, wrote our own festive stories and celebrated Christmas through a fantastic nativity performance!

Please have a look at some of our highlights from last term: 

   

 

In English this term, we will be basing our writing around our new topic ’Toys’ and learning more about how toys have changed over time. We will be reading some exciting fiction texts such as ‘Toys in Space, Lost in the Toy Museum’, That Rabbit belongs to Emily Brown, Old Bear 'and What’s in the Box’. We will be using our phonic knowledge to read, write words and construct simple sentences. We will continue to practise how to punctuate our writing by adding new action words to enhance our descriptive writing. 

         

Reading - Your child will be bringing home a reading book every day so please bring a book bag to keep the books safe. Please try to spend 10 minutes each day listening to your child read as it really does have a positive impact on their progress. Remember to sign your child’s reading record book when they have read to you, these needs to be brought into school each day to be checked. The children will be able to change their reading book every Monday and Thursday. This will give your child the chance to become more confident by re-reading the same book several times.

This term we have introduced ‘cosy reading time’. Cosy Reading focusses on creating a relaxed, enjoyable environment where children can develop a love for reading and improve their literacy skills. During this time, children are encouraged to explore a variety of texts, including storybooks, picture books, and simple chapter books of their interest.

Your child's spelling shed login is stuck at the front of their reading record. Assignments are set once a week, so please keep practising as it really makes a difference to your child's progress! Thank you! 

Phonics - The children will continue to learn their sounds in set 1, 2 & 3 and use the sounds they know to help with their writing. 

 

 

In Maths we will be exploring the concept of place value within numbers up to 20. We will learn how to recognise the value of each digit in a number based on its position, focusing on tens and ones. We will use manipulatives such as numicon, counters, tens frames and cubes to help us to solve addition and subtraction questions with more confidence. We will also learn to continue to use a number line, and how to use our knowledge of addition and subtraction within 20 to answer word problems. 

Your children's Numbots login details are stuck at the front of their Guided Reading Record books.

In RE, we will be focusing on the question 'What is the Good News Jesus brings?' We will explore this by reading the Gospel stories including ‘The Tax Collector, The Lost Sheep and more. Children will engage in role play and discuss together why most Christians believe Jesus Brings Good News. 

This term in Science, we will explore the topic of materials in, developing an understanding of the different types of materials around us and their properties. We will ask scientific questions and have the opportunity to take part in scientific investigations and inquiries. In Topic, we will be looking at ‘Toys’ and how they have evolved. We will be thinking about how toys have changed over the years, comparing Victorian toys to present toys. Hummingbirds will have the exciting opportunity to take part in a Victorian toy workshop.

 

Outdoor learning is every alternate Tuesday and you will receive a text beforehand so appropriate clothing can be brought in. PE is every Wednesday morning.

Please do not hesitate to talk to us if you have any concerns so that any problems can be sorted quickly.  

 

Be ready for learning! In Hummingbirds, your child will need to have these items in school: 

Key Stage One (Years 1 and 2) 

• Book bag (no rucksacks please) 

• PE kit (to be worn on PE day) 

• Water bottle (no squash or juice) 

• Lunchbox (if not having school meal) 

• Wellington boots (to leave in school) 

• Coat (weather appropriate) 

Please don’t bring other items into school, as we do not have space to store them, and it can cause upset if things are lost or damaged. 

 

Learning at home for Hummingbirds Class: 

Children are expected to read every night for at least 10 minutes.  Reading records should be signed by an adult and brought back to school each day to be checked by a member of staff. Your child will take home 2 books each day – a banded book, and a phonics book.  These will be changed on Mondays and Thursdays.

Spelling Shed and Numbots can be accessed from home using the logins provided on the inside of your child's reading record. 

 

School Uniform Checklist:

Please label ALL items of clothing and shoes clearly with your child’s name. This helps even our younger children to take responsibility for and look after their uniform. 

Reminders

In the morning, please drop your children off at the gates and leave any important messages with staff on the playground. We start our day's learning as soon as the children arrive, so teachers are not available to speak with parents and carers at the start of the day; after school is best.

 

 Hummingbirds learning highlights so far this term: 

We started off the New Year developing our sentences and thinking like a writer, we got to write super sentences about our toys! In Science, we had fun exploring different materials and their properties. It was great fun going on a scavenger hunt in the classroom. In PE, we are exploring different ways of travelling. A forward role is not as easy as it looks, but it is super fun! Finally, we have been working very hard on partitioning our numbers within 20.  We know we can break numbers into 'tens and ones'.